Adventure travel photographer, vlogger and Sony Alpha Ambassador Renee Hahnel (@reneeroaming) creates images with the goal to inspire people to have epic experiences outside. She first started out shooting mostly landscape scenes but felt like there was a missing piece. “I wanted to really translate the feeling that I had when I was standing there in that scene,” she explains. “So now I incorporate a lot of human elements into my images, usually myself in a more adventure self-portrait setting. I think it’s so important when doing anything landscape-related, but particularly the adventure landscape travel photography.” We caught up with Hahnel for more of her tips for creating breathtaking landscape imagery – learn more about the gear she uses in her landscape photography tutorial below.

Product Preview – In This Article You'll Find:
–Sony Alpha 1
–Sony 16-35mm f/2.8 G Master
–Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 G Master II
–Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 G Master II

Hahnel’s Camera & Lens Choice For Landscape Photography

When it comes to carrying her photography gear to those epic locations, Hahnel says that most of the time she just uses a regular hiking bag and makes it work with her kit inside. She packs the Sony Alpha 1, which she uses for pretty much everything she captures. Then she also packs a Sony trinity of lenses – the Sony 16-35mm f/2.8 G Master, Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 G Master II and Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 G Master II. “When I’m out in the field, I can pretty much capture anything and everything with these three lenses.”

The lens she says that she reaches for the most is the Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 G Master II. “I love this lens. It’s so light, it's so versatile. Being able to shoot at 24mm and all the way up to 70mm allows me to not only capture a wide scene, but it also helps me capture a bit of compression if I’m shooting at say 70mm. If I could just pick one lens to go on any trip, any hike, any backpacking trip, it’s going to be the 24-70mm.”

Watch as the adventure travel photographer, vlogger and Sony Alpha Ambassador member shares how she creates impactful landscape imagery.

She reaches for the Sony 16-35mm f/2.8 G Master for those grand landscape scenes. “I love how small and lightweight the 16-35mm is. It’s really great for taking hiking and backpacking because it really doesn’t weigh much at all and it fits seamlessly in my pack.”

Hahnel then likes to use the Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 G Master II for getting those punched in images with beautiful compression. “Some situations where I would use the 70-200mm would be, maybe there’s a huge mountain peak that in person it’s so grand and so beautiful, but it’s sometimes hard to translate that scale into an image. So I will then opt to use a lens like this so I can really compress in – and say I’m in the foreground, the huge mountains behind, and it just creates a really epic scene.”

Other Important Accessories For Landscape Photography

In addition to her camera and lenses, Hahnel always carries the Peak Design Travel Tripod with her. Not only does it allow her to take self-portraits, it’s also really handy for shooting in low-light conditions or creating timelapses. She also always brings extra memory cards, extra batteries and lens wipes – three things she wouldn’t want to be without while in the field. 

See more of Renee Hahnel’s work on Instagram @reneeroaming and at reneeroaming.com.

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